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Author Topic: Tracy’s Relatively New Gallery  (Read 21656 times)

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Offline quadrans

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Re: Tracy’s Relatively New Gallery
« Reply #175 on: January 15, 2024, 01:21:30 am »
Very nice addition 😉🤗👍

Joe /Q.
All the Best :), Joe
My Gallery

Offline Tracy Aiello

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Re: Tracy’s Relatively New Gallery
« Reply #176 on: January 15, 2024, 10:39:51 am »
Thank you Jay, Ron, and Joe.

Ron, looking forward to seeing what you have in the hopper waiting to be photographed. I have to admit that being disciplined in my purchasing is a bit more difficult than I thought.

Tracy

Offline Tracy Aiello

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Re: Tracy’s Relatively New Gallery
« Reply #177 on: January 15, 2024, 05:14:11 pm »
Well, here’s my second coin for the past five months: a Larissian fractional with Larissa three-quarters facing left on the obverse and rider on a horse prancing right on the reverse. I already have this type but what attracted me to this particular coin was its identification as an obol. I didn't pay attention to the weight, I just paid attention to the listed denomination and reference. After further research it turns out that the seller mis-read the SNG COP description between nos. 134 and 135 (easy to do if taking a quick glance) and thought no. 134 (my coin) was the obol when it turns out that no. 135 is the obol and no. 134 is a trihemiobol. I note that SNG COP does have a question mark after each listed denomination for nos. 134 and 135, so even the cataloger wasn’t certain.

I went through all my Larissian references and only Babelon in Traité and Herrmann in “Die Silbermünzen…” attest to an obol for this type; all of the other references that list this type do so as a trihemiobol.

My coin is 11mm and 1.04g. I hemmed and hawed: Is it a trihemiobol? Is it an obol? Finally, I just decided to call it an “obol (?)”.

Thanks for looking: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=185762

Tracy

Offline Virgil H

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Re: Tracy’s Relatively New Gallery
« Reply #178 on: January 21, 2024, 01:52:09 am »
Nice one Tracey,

Virgil

Offline Tracy Aiello

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Re: Tracy’s Relatively New Gallery
« Reply #179 on: January 21, 2024, 04:26:03 pm »
Thank you, Virgil. Much appreciated.

Tracy

Offline Tracy Aiello

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Re: Tracy’s Relatively New Gallery
« Reply #180 on: March 09, 2024, 09:19:09 pm »
My latest purchase is another Larissian obol (see below). On the obverse is Larissa’s profile to the left with a double headed ax in front and on the reverse is Jason’s sandal to the right with the legend Λ - Α above.

This new coin is very similar to the first Larissian coin (00001, also an obol) I have in my gallery, with two very notable exceptions: on my first coin of this type (1) there is no double headed ax in front of Larissa’s profile and (2) the rendition of the profile is of an archaic style.

BCD dates the minting of my “archaic profile” coin (which was actually his coin, sold in BCD Thessaly I as Lot 1098) from c. 500 - 479 BC. In BCD Thessaly II Lot 140 we find another obol with Larissa in profile and Jason’s sandal on the reverse. Lot 140 has a double headed ax as on my new coin, but there are major differences on the reverse: Lot 140 has the sandal facing left, a square within the incuse, a four letter legend ΛΑRΙ that is retrograde and upside down, and a sideways H on the groundline. BCD dates the minting Lot 140 to start where the “archaic profile” coin ends: c. 479 BC.

Where does my new coin fit in with this picture?

SNG Cop 90, dated to c. 500 - 479 BC, is an exact match for my new coin, but there is no double ax. Weber 2826, dated to before c. 480 BC, would be an exact match if (1) the sandal was facing right. Weber 2826 has the legend Λ - Α on the reverse but the digitization of the plate doesn’t allow me to actually see the legend or its placement vis-a-vis the sandal. I wonder if the Λ - Α are retrograde and upside down like the legend is on BCD Thessaly II Lot 140, and I actually wonder if the legend in the catalog shouldn’t have been written as ΛΑ[RΙ]. Two letters or four letters?

I wondered if my new coin had a complete legend or if the legend was incomplete and perhaps R - Ι were off flan. On BCD Thessaly II Lot 140 the Λ sits right above the top of the sandal that would wrap the ankle and the I is actually over the toe as a horizontal line. On my coin the Λ sits about halfway between where the sandal would wrap the ankle and the toe of the sandal, over which the Α just about sits. If I assume, and this is a BIG assumption, that the die engraver(s) were to fit the legend over the sandal from heel to toe, then I could thereby assume that my new coin has a complete legend of just two letters.

What was my question again? Oh, where does my new coin fit in?

I don’t really have any evidence for this, but if I assume that the two letter legend predated the four letter legend, then perhaps my new coin was a transitional type minted sometime between, oh I don’t know, 490 - 480 BC. Now I’m kind of just guessing and I’ve exhausted myself.

Anyway, it’s a nice coin, although a bit harshly cleaned, and I’m delighted to have it in my collection.

Enjoy: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=186281

Tracy

Offline Jay GT4

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Re: Tracy’s Relatively New Gallery
« Reply #181 on: March 09, 2024, 11:13:19 pm »
Your guess is as good as mine, but it is a great acquisition!  Even though this isn't my collecting field, I'd love to have one of these sandal types!  Congrats!

Offline Tracy Aiello

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Re: Tracy’s Relatively New Gallery
« Reply #182 on: March 24, 2024, 11:26:36 am »
Greetings,

I was able to obtain this wonderful little Athenian tritartemorion. No owl on this reverse; just horn-inward crescents and the legend E☉A within.

For the six references in which I found this coin, none depicted in a plate photograph or catalog write-up the particular legend arrangement on this coin. I was not able to distinguish the legend arrangement on two photographs and although Kroll states that arrangement variations exist he did not enumerate them.

Enjoy, and thanks for looking: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=186450

Tracy

Offline Jay GT4

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Re: Tracy’s Relatively New Gallery
« Reply #183 on: March 24, 2024, 11:51:54 am »
Nice little coin Tracy

Offline Anaximander

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Re: Tracy’s Relatively New Gallery
« Reply #184 on: March 24, 2024, 12:55:47 pm »
Nice little fraction of Athens.

I am surprised that Chester Starr (Athenian Coinage, 480-449 BC) has so little to offer on Athenian fractions for this period. Yes, there seems to be a lack of surviving specimens. Anything less than a drachm is described as a hemi-drachm or an obol, with nary a tritartemorion. 

My Athenian obol turned out to be a Bactrian imitation of the "Athenian series."

PS: I had to go find a copy of Svoronos Athens. I found it on the Gallica (BnF) site, but I couldn't download it because I've made too many requests! Actually, there were rather few requests, but Gallica probably counted the number of requests but not the number of downloads, since I always encounter site errors and have to go through my workarounds.  I wonder how long I am banished from downloads.

Offline Tracy Aiello

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Re: Tracy’s Relatively New Gallery
« Reply #185 on: March 24, 2024, 03:08:30 pm »
Hello Jay and Anaximander,

Thank you both. I too was surprised when I went through my copy of Starr. I was certainly hoping for something there, but alas. Hopefully you won’t be banished from Gallica BnF downloads for very long.

A Bactrian imitation. Nice, even if you thought it was otherwise. Over time I’ve toyed with starting a collection of imitations. Maybe someday….

All the best,

Tracy

Offline Tracy Aiello

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Re: Tracy’s Relatively New Gallery
« Reply #186 on: March 24, 2024, 05:06:00 pm »
Well, today was a twofer: two write-ups completed and thus two coins added to my gallery. This is another Athenian coin, this time a drachm.

The theme of this gallery seems to be collecting one of each denomination.

As always, thanks for looking: https://www.forumancientcoins.com/gallery/displayimage.php?pid=186455

Tracy

 

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